Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Winter Haiku

One of my favorite forms of poetry is haiku. I
couldn’t exactly say why. Perhaps it’s because it traditionally deals with
nature. It could also be that haiku is outwardly simple: three lines, seventeen
syllables.

Although I’m not particularly good at it, I
enjoy the challenge of writing haiku. Seventeen syllables isn’t much to work
with, particularly when trying to convey an image. Then, toss in the
restriction of the first line using only five syllables, the second line seven
and the third line another five, it’s easy to see why the mental gyrations
begin. It makes for a fantastic writing exercise, testing your vocabulary and
creativity.I’m not going to step into that tiger pit of
arguments against such restrictions; many don’t follow them. (And too, there
are good arguments that the written Western languages, particularly English,
can’t actually produce haiku true to the original Japanese form.) For myself,
however, I like the 5-7-5 form and stick to it.

Below are six haiku that have come about over
the years. I’ve paired them with some pictures that brought the haiku to mind. I
hope you enjoy both.